Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Instead of the planned spring dress I made this little blanket for a friend's new baby boy.

I saw one made by Megan at Mousehouse which I really liked so I followed her links to a tutorial. It was about 3 hrs in total to make up. Mine has smaller squares as I had just 25cm of each fabric so each square was approx 12cm. I used a cotton batting between the layers to keep it light and easy to wash. It ended up being about 75cm x60cm - good for prams, in cars or as a play mat. Don't look too closely - it's not perfect but that's what handmade is about and I am sure the boy using it won't notice.

The latest issue of Mollie Makes Magazine (here) turned up and G requested a hamster ( not that she has even seen one as we don't have these in NZ) - it's pretty tiny - about 5cm long .

Loving this magazine and all the links to crafty blogs - not enough hours in the day

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

This week included a couple more projects to help keep control of "little things" and paper. The first was an Alphabet Box - while I like the idea that it's educational I also really like that it gives us somewhere to put all those small things 4 year olds seem to love to collect.

I had seen the idea a while ago here at pinkandgreenmama and then last week Megan at Mousehouse posted her ABC box. Ours looks very similar - in fact I only noticed now when I linked to Mousehouse that I even happened to choose the same letters from the warehouse for ours.

S is for Sheep, suitcase, sun, scissors and surf board

C is for clothes peg, carrot, cabbage, crayon and comb

All the stuff in ours was lying around the house , I'm also going to keep an eye out in the shops for a letter set to put into the drawers as Pink and Green mama has done. So far it's a hit with G and I'm liking having a home for those items I keep tripping over.

The Other project was to organise the art paper and tonight I finished sewing a paper storage hanger. I had seen a wall hung one in the Playful learning book by Mariah Bruehl which I liked. Only problem was that we don't have much spare wall space so I made one to hang over the back of a dining chair.

I made little plastic windows for the name cards edged with bias binding. If you have ever tried to combine bias with plastic sheet you will understand their slightly wonky placement .

I'm intending for unused paper and projects in action to both go in here - yet to be used so I'll have to see how it goes. An added bonus is that it used up some of my fabric stash that is threatening to take over the spare room.

Saturday, 17 September 2011

Using the Library bag pattern I found on Sew Mama Sew here I made a bag out of some Japanese Cotton/linen fabric I had.

I made and gave it as a gift - my friend seemed really pleased so I was happy.

It looks better in use with something in it than in these pictures.

It's the second time I've used the pattern and it's super quick and easy. Last time( here) I put an applique on the pocket which was a bit more time consuming - I'm thinking I"ll make a few of these for xmas gifts as well as one for us too.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

After buying Mariah Bruehl's book Playful learning ( check out her blog here for great ideas) I have been trying to organise all our art supplies to firstly make them more accessible for G and also tidy them up as well as make them easier to keep tidy. Here is a before and after of the art corner

Not too bad but the drawers did not really work and the paper just ended up all piled over the table. G never went into the drawers much either.

I've bought 2 little cupboards and a caddy for the pencils. The caddy is great and so I also got a similar box to put other craft supplies which is mobile too and sits on the shelf on the larger unit.

I left the caddy sitting on the table as it was rainy yesterday, G immediately got up and did a collage and then asked me to help her spell out the words I Love Art with the alphabet stickers across the top. I got the supplies mainly from the warehouse but intend to keep an eye out for things in thrift shops like old buttons and sewing trim etc which are a bit more interesting (and greener). It's still a work in progress as I haven't yet found a good paper storage solution but have a few ideas and I want to do some labels with words/pictures etc.

Monday, 12 September 2011

While a neighbour was over having coffee our kids were happily playing in the bedroom. I didn't bother checking on them for quite a while as they were chatting happily (no ominous silences), when I did this is the sight that greeted me (and while I might be messy at times -no it did not look like this before our guests arrived!):

I should have known something was up as G had come out a couple of times in different outfits. Luckily there was no paint or crayons involved just a lot of tidying up needed at the end of the play date.

Penguin must have been injured in the process as later that day I noticed his "bandages" and G informed me he had broken his beak.

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Well technically it's a tunic - a Sew liberated schoolhouse tunic, but I like the word smock.

I also like the way this photo shot upward makes me look tall (I'm not!)

It's a super easy pattern which I made just 2 modifications to (couldn't help myself), firstly I just faced all around the neck line rather than do the bias binding across the back as the pattern details, I also ran a strip of elastic across the back seam allowance where the skirt part meets the bodice - just to give it a little more of a tailored fit.

Here is a close up of the front detail

I might make a more subtle version - this is very bright and I am sure will attract bees if I stand in our garden. I think it would look good in a softer fabric too.

Thursday, 1 September 2011

Having transferred all my buttons to their new tin I decided to upgrade the previous button storage jars. I had seen a few posts around on spray painting lids which looked cool here, but I decided on a quick fix.(Martha stewart website also had some good ideas too). I had some washi paper that has a sticky back left over from photo albums here ( did not realise this when I purchased in Japan but it has come in very handy).

I was thinking they would be nice storage containers in the kitchen . I left them sitting on the table while I tidied up the left over craft stuff ( leave sticky anything lying around here and it's swooped on in a nano second). When I came back into the room someone had found a home for some "treasures" in one jar and a rabbit in another. Looks like the kitchen misses out this time.

The little animal stickers were my daughters contribution to the decorations.